“I think we all need to calm down.” Ottilie throws a meaningful look at Axel, and Astrid feels a strange sense of contentment washover her. Skylar growls out loud this time, predatory focus on the blond man.
We don’t need to calm down, we need to get out of here. Astrid doesn’t like the way the Dreki are watching Bastet. If anything happens, they’ll go for him first.
Keep her talking as long as you can. I’m working on something.
Astrid nods subtly, then shifts away from her and walks slowly toward Zryan. If Skylar’s up to something, then Astrid needs to split their focus. As soon as she’s near him, Zryan grabs her and pulls her up against him, angling his body in front of hers. He presses a chaste kiss right on her mate mark.
The queen’s lips thin at the gesture. She’s quiet a moment, then she sweeps over to the pool of water, the light rippling across her face making her look like a siren of Arturean legend.
“This is where the Heart was kept, you know, in this pool. We can’t say for sure when it was taken, given the impossibility of it, and I have spent a lot of time here trying to work it out, spent a lot of time studying the Heart, its history, its origin. And I finally started to piece it together a few years ago. A little bit like you have, Princess Astrid.” Zryan’s hand flexes on her hip and she strokes a palm along his back, to reassure him. “You’re clever, I’ll grant you that, though you never should have laid eyes on that tapestry. You learned, didn’t you, that Nyx and Aeloria were mates, figured out they never could have fought each other—my son let that slip when I asked him about it. So presumably you’ve deduced that this history we’ve all been taught is a lie, but have you asked yourself what the truth is? Have you asked yourself what came before Nyx and Aeloria?”
Astrid is barely breathing. She’s not sure Zryan is, either.
What is she talking about, Little Witch?Astrid doesn’t dare look at Skylar, doesn’t want the queen’s attention to fall on her mate.
I’ve honestly no idea where this is going.
The queen raises a brow, and Astrid feels like she’s back in the Moon Palace with her old tutors. All she can manage is a small shake of her head.
“No, no one ever seems to. So disappointing. The truth is, theycame with the Heart from another world. That’s what the tapestry depicts, but it seems you missed that detail.”
Silence. Such silence that she can hear the gentle ripple of the water. Astrid fists the bottom of Zryan’s shirt, desperate to grip something, as it feels more and more like reality is slipping away from her. What detail did she miss?
She’s lost it. She’s completely fucking lost it.
Astrid is too stunned to answer her mate, but Skylar’s right. The queen has completely lost her mind. Even Axel is looking at Ottilie like he doesn’t recognize her. One of the Dreki shifts uncomfortably, and the queen picks up on the movement. She smiles, a slash of a thing.
“You don’t have to believe me, because I’m going to prove it to you soon enough. You see, this other world they came from still exists—in fact, we existinsideit, like a pocket. And right here, in this room, someone made a cut into our world. And not just back when the Heart was stolen, no. I’ve sensed it again more recently, this interference with the magic.” A derisive snort sounds from Skylar, and the queen forces a closed-lip smile. “You’re wondering how I know this. My Blooded order. As a Nullifier, and a Prime at that, I can sense where magic has been made and unmade, warded and unwarded. I can sense its layers, even the type of power and the order it belongs to. Except with you, of course. Yours is the only magic I’ve never been able to sense.” A small wrinkle forms between her brows as she studies Skylar. The queen looks to the pool.
“Many years ago, when I first came here—after the Heart was taken—I felt an echo of something foreign, of something… otherworldly. That’s when I knew. They came and they took the Heart right back to the world it originally came from. And now I have what I need to make the cut, too, to follow them there and get the Heart back.”
“Stop this,” Zryan says firmly but gently, his anger transformed to alarm—concern for his mother. “This is madness; there is no other world. You need to let Astrid and Skylar go, let us all go, and we can work this out together. We can help find the Heart. Helpyou.”
“But you’ve already been so helpful. Especially you.” She turns her hate-filled gaze back on Skylar, and Astrid pulls out of Zryan’s grip,heading for her mate, not liking the look on the queen’s face at all. “Remind me, Princess Astrid, what else you noticed about the tapestry. Particularly with Nyx.”
It hits her, as physical as a slap. The image of Nyx riding Artemia is replaced with the image of Skylar at the warrens, racing around the carriages to save her. Skylar in the cage, reaching out, taking hold of—
“The hairpin,” she breathes. The long silver pin hangs loosely in Skylar’s hand. The dragon heir looks at it, then frowns, glancing between Astrid and the queen.
“Clever girl,” Ottilie says, giving her a genuine smile. It’s terrifying. “Though you know it’s not a hairpin, don’t you? Axel?” She turns to the blond man, whose face is drawn, and points at Skylar.
“Bring me that wand.”
57Skylar
Skylar stares down at her pin, the only thing of her mother’s she’s kept hold of. Awand?
She’s lost it, she says to Astrid again.
But Astrid’s face has drained of color, and she’s staring down at the pin with something like recognition.In general, yes. But, Skylar, I think she’s right about your pin. I think it is a witch wand.
Why the Vaar would my mother have a witch wand?
I don’t know, but—
“Axel!” The queen’s voice is a bark, because Axel still hasn’t moved to obey her. He glances at Ottilie—and for a second Skylar thinks he might not do it. He might refuse. But Ottilie’s eyes narrow, her head jerking. And a trace of a grimace crosses his face as he moves toward Skylar.
Before she has time to react, calm washes over her, making her question why she would want to fight. She feels almostcontent, and when she looks at Astrid, all she sees is a lazy smile on her face. She knows this isn’t right, that they don’t really feel like this. But it doesn’t stop her from staying still, pin at her side, as Axel closes the distance between them.
